The First Full Week of "Summer"

I'm tired.
Very tired.

This was the first full week
that the kids have been off for summer vacation.

During the last few days of school,
a few of the staff asked me,
"Wow, I'll bet you'll be glad when school is out, huh?
You won't have us around to give you headaches!"

Well....yes and no.

While it's true that I now don't have people
"tugging on my apron strings",
- wanting this and that -
the real work has just begun.
Twenty years ago,
I used to tell people
that summer was when I earned my salary
and the school year was volunteer work.
But that was back when I was making $20K/year
and at $42K now, it's hard to tell people that.

Summer work is very hot and sweaty.
I always hope for a cool, dry summer,
and we have had a few over the years.
Our school doesn't have central A/C;
just a few offices and the staff lounge
have window A/C units.
So a string of 94-degree days and 95% humidity
can be pure hell.

Each classroom goes through the following procedure:
Swing down each flourescent light cover
and dust each light inside and out,
(changing bulbs as needed),
dusting the upper halves of each wall
and washing/scrubbing the lower halves,
washing/scrubbing each piece of furniture,
carrying it out into the hallway and stacking it
and stripping and re-waxing each floor
with 5 coats of wax.

And there's 30 classrooms in my school
plus a multitude of offices, a computer lab
a gymnasium/lunchroom and a kitchen.

And at the moment,
there's four custodians (including myself)
working together
and we don't get along 100% of the time.
I don't think any four people
who work together day after day in the same room do.
Most of the time we really get along well
but when we start getting really hot and tired
and by Friday we're sick of looking at each other,
nerves start to fray.
My best worker exploded on Wednesday
because our principal moved some classrooms around.
And he hates change.
He's sure the moves will make more work for him
but I've assured him it either won't make more work
or the change will be minimal.
I explained to him why I believed that,
and he settled down.
He's really good at his job.
He's always reminded me
of a major league baseball player,
a superstar in the field and at the plate,
a 3.00 batting average and 45-homeruns-a-year hitter
...but someone
who has to be constantly nurtured and encouraged.
Another custodian loves to say things
that's sure to get somebody hot under the collar.
She does it just to make trouble.
The third is a college student
working here just for the summer
and this was the first week
she's ever done anything like this.
So inexperience is a problem there.
And since our work varies widely, experience helps.

It also helps a lot if I split us up into two groups.
But sometimes it's best
if all four of us work together in the same room
to clean furniture.
That way it goes faster.
Nobody particularly likes cleaning furniture.

Anyway...as always,
I'm hoping again for a reasonably cool, dry summer.

Wish me luck.
I may need it.